Two killed in Cairo protests

At least two demonstrators were killed Friday when riot police dispersed a pro-Morsi protest in Cairo.

Two protesters were killed on Friday [2]when Egyptian riot police broke up street protests organised by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.Violent clashes erupted in the Matariya district in eastern Cairo as dozens of Islamists marched to a local police station, Al Ahram Arabic news website reported. Security forces scattered the crowds [3]using teargas, arresting several protesters.

Sayed Owais, 67, and Mazen Ahmed, 16, were killed in the violence, reported Al-Ahram. The two bodies were examined by prosecutors shortly after the dispersal.A pro-Morsi grouping called for demonstrations across Egyptian cities on Friday to protest a steep rise in fuel prices. The increase sparked a public backlash when they were imposed last week by the government of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.[4]Security forces also used teargas to break up protests[5] in the coastal city of Alexandria on Friday. Five people were arrested for organising illegal protests in Alexandria; another person, who authorities say was in possession of birdshot pellets, was arrested during a demonstration in Giza.Since Morsi's military ouster last summer, [6]authorities have cracked down hard on his Muslim Brotherhood movement and other sympathisers, jailing thousands and killing hundreds of others in street violence.A law issued late last year, described as highly repressive by rights groups, bans all but police-sanctioned protests. Dozens of secular political activists have also been jailed for violating the law.